Transfer to Mazatlan

I am getting transfered to Mazatlan! It was the hardest thing in the world to say good bye to the members in Nueva Galicia and Huertas, I am not going to lie I was crying. It is just that I have been here for 7 1/2 months.  That is a very long time and I got to really love the people. When the members of Huertas heard that I was heading out, they couldn`t believe it, they told me you just barely got here and you are heading out. The Bishop was joking around, he told me that he was going to talk to my Mission President so that I would stay longer. I told the Bishop, don`t worry another American is going to come in my place, he told me, but this American isn`t you, we want you! It made me feel really special. We worked really hard in the last week and had a decent amount of success. It was so hard to leave.  It felt like I was just starting life all over again. Right now I am in my new area. The ward has six missionaries in it. Two Elders and four sister Missionaries are in the ward and in my District. Our area is kind of far away from the church, and there are only five members in our area. We are going to have to work dang hard and I am up for the challenge. I am really excited for this change it is going to be really good for me. In my area it isn`t quite as hot as Culiacan, but it is very humid, I am sweating a lot. The houses are a lot smaller, the people are poor but they seem really nice. There are cows, animals, it reminds me of Rosario. My new companion is called Elder Farias, he is from Mexico City, he has three months on his Mission. He is really nice, humble, we are going to get along just great. Our house isn`t the greatest.  The water doesn`t work.  In the morning and the day we have to fill up buckets of water and bathe ourselves. It is really hot in the house.  It is small, but it is really cheap. I think that we are going to look for another house. Don`t worry about me, everything is fine here, and I promise that I will do my best.  I hope the best for you, I love you so much, thanks for the letter!  

Love, Elder Cannon

Marriage and Baptisms

This week was one of the greatest weeks of my life.  It was so awesome. On Wednesday I had divisions with Elder Perez in my District and we had an amazing day! I returned to my old area and we went to town. In the morning we were invited to be witnesses at the wedding of Carlos and Ana.  They are the family that Elder Porter and I taught.  We also invited the sister missionaries.  It was a really special wedding. Before the wedding I was talking to Ana.  I asked her if she received her answer from God that the Book of Mormon is true.  She told me "yes I know." She  reads a lot and is already in the Book of Alma. I was so happy for this family.

We also found new investigators, we taught really powerfully and 3 people accepted baptismal dates.

On Friday Carlos, Ana, and Carlo all got baptized. It was a very special baptism, and I am not going to lie,  I was crying a little bit. My joy is overwhelming for this family and I wrote them a very powerful letter.  They were so happy and felt the Spirit very strongly. Elder Perez baptized Carlos, Elder Porter baptized Ana, I baptized the son Carlo. On Saturday we had a baptism in our area of Abel. It was also a very special baptism and I was so happy for him. When he told us that he prayed and asked God if he should be baptized, he felt as if God was there with him and that he should get baptized. This week was a week of pure power and one of the greatest weeks of my life. My happiness is full and I thank my Heavenly Father every day for all that he has done for me. This is the last week of transfers. I am excited to see what is to come. I want to help save as many souls as I possibly can. I want every family to be eternal and to be sealed together forever.  I love seeing families getting baptized.  There is no joy greater than being a missionary. I can`t wait to see what God has in store for me and I wish the best for you guys.

Love Elder Cannon    

Happy Mother's Day

That was so awesome to talk to all of you guys Everything is different. A lot has changed in the past year. I am glad that you had a great mothers day. Everyone is getting old, and my brothers are starting to get a little focused on girls. I felt really special getting to see all of you guys and I miss you. But I know that I am supposed to be here and that God has everything planned out for me, I can`t wait to see what he has got in store for me. I feel like my life couldn`t get better.  I am happy!  I have started to understand the importance of time, of why we are here, and what God really wants from me. This week it is possible that we are going to see some baptisms. We are going to have one baptism. Elder Porter and Elder Perez are going to baptize a family of 3, that Elder Porter and I found and taught. I feel really blessed to be able to see these baptisms and to see the fruits of our efforts. A lot of the times when we leave our areas, we don`t see that what we did really mattered or that we had success in our area. I am happy, there is no other place I would rather be than here in Culiacan.  I love my Mission and I love doing what I do. I want to be a missionary forever. I don`t want to end.  I still lack a long time before I go home, so I don`t think a whole lot about that. I need to take advantage of this precious time that I have left and get her done. Have a great Week! Happy Mothers Day, I love you so much.  I don`t know who I would be if I didn`t have you as my Mother, you are the perfect example and I look up to you alot. Talk to you next week!

Talk to you Sunday

 I will be Skyping this Sunday.  It is only for an hour but I am excited to see all of you guys. This week was actually a good week for us.  It isn`t the easiest thing to open an area, but we are starting to progress. I think that pretty soon I will be able to see baptisms of the family that Elder Porter and I found.  I would be so happy to see them getting baptized they are so special. There are so many good things about the mission. I love the work, I love being a missionary, I love the people. I have actually started doing a lot of excercise in the mornings and in the nights. I feel a lot better. I feel a lot healthier. I talk to you this Sunday, have a great week and remember that I love you!

Love Elder Cannon

Birthday celebration

I am doing really good.  My Birthday was really awesome. Missionaries gave me ties, President and Hermana Velez sang Happy Birthday and congratulated me in English, Members gave me cake or congratulated me. In church a lot of the members of Nueva Galicia also told me Happy Birthday.   I don`t know how they knew it was my Birthday but it really did make me feel special. I can`t wait to meet my new cousin Wyatt he looks like a great little baby. We are going to have some awesome Birthday parties when I get back. Speaking of getting back tomorrow I will exactly have one year until I go home. I cannot believe that I have been on a mission for a year.  It has been the greatest thing for me.  It has taught me and changed me a lot. We had a seminary training with President Velez, his wife, and all of the Leaders of the Mission.  It was a great training session and I learned a lot. His wife made us very delicious tacos.  I was grateful that I was able to attend. We are still getting to know the members of the ward and are doing all that we can so that they Preach the Gospel and help us in this work. One of our investigators speaks really good English.  H is really nice, humble, and lived in Utah for a few months, but he never heard about the church until he came to Culiacan. He has been to church about 5 times and he has a baptism set for the 10th of May.  I am really excited for him. We are trying hard to find New Investigators because we don`t have very many people to teach.  The work is hard but rewarding. I love this work and I know that God put me in this ward to strenghten it and to help it grow. I hope all is well back home.  Have a great week.

Love Elder Cannon  

New Area and Companion

This week was actually kind of hard for us because for almost all of the week everyone left their homes and traveled. A lot of people went to the beach, a lot of them went to visit their families. There was hardly anyone in the street and everyone that we saw or found were really old people. My new companion Elder Garibay is from Michoacan and is a really great missionary.  He has six months in his mission and we are going to work really hard together. He is a convert.  He barely has three years since he was baptized.  His hope is that for him being here his family is going to accept the Gospel. I was able to see the baptism of an old investigator (Beatrice) that we taught in Nueva Galicia, she is such a great person and I was so happy to be able to watch her being baptized. President and Hermana Velez came to the baptism and it was really a special moment for everyone. I made some trades with other missionaries and I now have a Canon camera. I really like it.  It isn`t the newest or anything, but it does have some neat effects. All of the missionaries in our ward gave talks.  I felt so good and am really excited to get the members excited about Preaching the Gospel. On Sunday I was able to talk to a lot of the members of Nueva Galicia.  They made me so happy and I am so grateful to still keep in contact with everyone I know in my old ward.   Even though this week was a little hard, there were a lot of blessings and I couldn`t ask for anything more. I was talking to my convert Humberto, he said that he really wants to get to know Utah and to see the Salt Lake Temple, and he wants to get know my parents.  I said that he is welcome in my house and that it would be awesome to have him there.  Maybe we will have guests in a few years.  You have to get to know his family. They are so special and I will never forget them. Humberto is working really hard with the missionaries and he is really courageous and bold to talk to less actives and ask them why they don`t go to church, and encourging them to go, he gets it done.   I feel so happy and blessed to have been able to teach him and watch how much he has progressed in the Gospel. This Gospel brings so many blessings and miracles, I can`t even begin to express the happiness that it has brought me.  This work isn`t easy, but it is worth everything and it means everything to me. I can`t believe that I am going to be 20 years old.  I think that next Tuesday after the District Meeting we are going to have a little party with birthday cake. I don`t feel that old.  I feel like I am changing a lot, but I still feel really young. Thanks for your letter, I talk to you guys next week, bye!

Love Elder Cannon 

 

P.S.  This picture is from the family baptized last week.

Surgery and Baptism

This week we saw a miracle.  Elder Porter had his surgery on Tuesday at 6 am.  We left the hospital at about 4 pm. We were there almost all day.  The doctor said that Elder Porter had to stay in the house all day for one week, he couldn`t leave the house. The operation went well, but his nose didn`t feel so good for a while. I have such a great District.  Just about every day they would come to my house and one of them would stay with Elder Porter in the house and the other companion would work with me. During the divisions I planned on contacting a reference that I received from another Elder. We went, found the family, taught the family, and baptized the family; they were so ready and excited to be baptized. She lived in Tijuana.  She has gone to church a lot of times, the missionaries kept trying to baptize her.  She wanted to get baptized where she was born in Culiacàn. She finally accepted to get baptized in Tijuana, she had the baptismal interview and passed it, then she suddenly left to Culiacan.  A week and a half later we found her. We contacted her on Wednesday, taught her on Thursday, had the baptismal interview on Friday, got baptized on Saturday, was confirmed a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints and received the Holy Ghost on Sunday. It all seemed so fast, she was so ready and so excited, she got baptized with her son and her daughter. Elder Porter baptized the mother Fernanda. I baptized the daughter Daniela. Elder Martinez(was with me on divisions when we contacted the family) baptized the son Edgar. I was so happy for this family, my joy was overwhelming! I could not believe it! The baptism was very special and I will always cherish this experience.

The transfers came in and I am leaving Nueva Galicia. I will be going to the ward Huertas, it is right next to my area.  We even use the same church. I told everyone that I am heading out.  Everyone said, "Nooooooo, you can`t leave."  They got pretty emotional.  They asked me where I was going.  I said I am going to Huertas.  They all laughed really hard and said "we will see you on Sunday."  I already know a few of the members in Huertas and I am excited to go to work. I am going to open a new area, there are now going to be 4 missionaries in Huertas. I have never opened an area before.  I have learned so much on my mission about trying things that I have never done before.  I will get to know my new companion today.  His name is Elder Garabay and he has six months on his mission. My testimony has definitely increased from this experience.  My love for the work has grown and my excitement to serve. Thanks for all of your love and support.  I will have Elder Porter send me pictures of the baptism so that I can send them to you guys. I am going to miss Elder Porter.  He is a really good missionary.  He is still going to be in my District. I love you guys, have a great week!

  

Love Elder Cannon 

 

 

We had a Multi Zone Meeting, I am in the back row.